Written by Jospeh Elbaz

In this week’s Torah portion, we learn about two interesting and very important people in the Torah: Eldad and Maydad. After selecting 70 people to govern the people of Israel, Moshe ran into a problem. If the 12 tribes were not equally represented in this leadership, it would not be fair, but there could only be 70 leaders, which would create a conflict between these two things. Therefore, he chose 72 people and held a sort of raffle to see who would be chosen to be part of the 70. Among these people were Eldad and Maydad. 

After hearing about this raffle, these two very holy people decided not to be a part of the raffle and secretly stayed in their tents to allow the other 70 people to be chosen as governors. In this selfless act, they merited to have a prophecy from their own tent’s and according to some poskim (commentators), they predicted that Moshe would not be permitted to enter the land of Israel. Additionally, according to commentaries on the Megillah of Esther, they were part of a holy group of 7 people carved into the throne of Shmuel.

So what can we learn from this? Firstly, we can learn the cautiousness of Moshe in making sure everyone had their part in the construction of the people of Israel, and how to emulate that same intricacy. Secondly, we can take away the importance of being selfless and humble, avoiding the bright lights in search of a deeper meaning, helping those around us, and even ourselves in the process. In the end, they merited to receive prophecy and be honored alongside the greatest of people, showing only a fraction of their reward that Hashem gave them. We, too, can internalize this message and find meaning and ease in our Torah learning and mitzvot.